It’s not even 7 am but the village is waking up quickly. As I follow Pheyis along a slightly miserable looking gilfeith whose prank backfired spectacularly, I can hear the occasional voice or noise from nearby houses.

People aren’t going out to start their day just yet, but it’s only a matter of minutes.

We’re very soon outside the village and Pheyis takes a sharp turn left, following the wall. The land is relatively flat on this side, as far as a piece of land in the middle of mountains can be flat. There is a dirt road going down to lower valleys, and a few tended areas: a large orchard, some recently worked fields, and in the more rugged places, the bushes and trees have been cleared to make pastures for six legged... black goats? Well, I’m calling them goats because the milk made me think of goat milk and I don’t see any other animals grazing, but they don’t really match.

For starters, they are pretty damn big. Easily horse sized. They do have horns, but they also have a very sheep-like black woolly coat. Of course there’s also the six legs, but at this point, I’m pretty much just accepting that things having six limbs is an inherited evolution common to most larger lifeforms on this planet. Except gilfeiths. Well, gilfeiths are super weird. For instance, they are all way more different to each other than they have any business being. I’m getting more and more curious about what’s the deal with their race.

I’m sure we’ll find out eventually.

A loud clap from Pheyis interrupts my train of thoughts. One can't even start spacing out upon seeing horse-sized-sheep-that-are-actually-goats in peace these days, such a cruel fate.

We’re no longer in view of the little road, and since the sun is opposite us, the wall is providing ample shade. The ground is a patchwork of bare earth and hardy grass that has obviously seen lots of abuse from regular training sessions.

She barks an order at Aetmon and he starts doing a familiar stretching routine. I don’t wait to be told to start following suit as best as I can. He’s nowhere near as flexible as Pheyis herself, making it much easier to copy the positions.

That's worth a nod of approval from Pheyis before she activates her one sided translation.

“Your first goal is to get either the Athletic trait, or the Strong and the Dexterous ones, which are easier to get. Obviously, growing any of those takes a while, the real prize is improving your body.” She’s looks my way critically. “Shouldn’t be hard considering how low we’re starting. Just follow what Aetmon is doing as best as you can. I'll be motivating you if you fail.”

There's a sligthly threatening undertone to her voice that gives me the chills.

And just when I was trying to convince myself she might just be a kind teacher too.

Sure enough, I very soon got familiar with exactly how sharp the scaly tip of her tail is: she used it to poke at my misplaced limbs. The answer is very. Very sharp and pointy.

She's harsh but she does spend the time to correct my mistakes and really point out what I need to focus on, so I'm still kind of grateful for it.

And while Bob is quiet, I definitely get to feel a hint of his emotions which makes the whole experience a bit... Weird.

People soon start showing up, and not just the handful of kids and teenagers I expected. Most are obviously adults, often carrying tools or gear fit for working. They arrive, quietly greet Pheyis and start stretching with a no nonsense attitude. I’m a bit surprised to see they leave their shoes aside for the training, their loose fitting pants held tight by leather ties at their ankles.

By the time Aetmon was done stretching, there were about forty gilfeith going through the motions. Considering the size of the village that had to be an important part of it. Something like a third of the villagers perhaps?

The whole training is eerily silent. There is just a gentle rustle of wind every now and then, an occasional faraway animal call, and rarely, somebody makes a grunt from the light exertion of the stretches, or just by moving around. While extremely strange to say regarding a bunch of people getting ready to exercise, those first 20 minutes or so felt somewhat like the subdued ambiance of a library.

As Aetmon is waiting for orders, I take a better look around.

Ugh. I must stand out like a sore thumb.

While none of them even come close to Pheyis in their range of movement, none would be out of place in a gymnastic competition.

Aetmon is doing push-ups.

Guess it’s time to really get into it then, training with otherworldly aliens that are out of my league.

- - -

Two hours later, people are leaving to start their actual day and I’m just laying sprawled on the ground.

I stopped caring about appearances about 20 minutes into the grueling training.

I learned some gilfeith words, such as a lot of the numbers up to one hundred, and the word for again. In that order.

Pheyis had me do push-ups until I couldn’t anymore, she had me doing squats until I couldn’t anymore, she had me do a bunch of other exercises until I couldn’t anymore, and then she had me do them again.

And then, while my legs and my arms and a bunch of other muscles, including some I didn’t know could get tired, were still trembling, there were confrontation exercises. Stuff like trying to resist being pushed or pulled in various stances. It seemed weird, but apparently it can grow some useful traits related to balance and dexterity.

I wouldn’t know, I didn’t get a thing.

Two hours pushing my body further than ever before, hounded by a relentless monster of a woman, and not a single acknowledgement from the system.

“There’s weapon-handling practice this evening, third and last quarters of sundown. However, I’d recommend focusing on your body until your first physical traits are at least at one tenth. Should be done by the fall of the month if you stay dedicated. Stretch for at least twenty measures before leaving.”

I don’t really react, she’s telling me that like I should know how their timekeeping works… At least she didn't call me maggot again

I force my exhausted body to move once more, to try and look around. Pheyis is gone, and so is Aetmon. But the kids are here still. There’s four of them observing me from a distance, whispering and giggling. If I don’t start really moving I have no doubt they will work the nerves to come and poke me.

Those little shits had it easy compared to adults, I mostly saw them doing a lot of running and dexterity exercises such as walking on their hands. Looked fun rather than difficult, they have impressive balance thanks to their tails.

To be fair I think its bad for long term health if kids are trained to get strong before they are fully grown, maybe the gilfeith have the same kind of preoccupations, still, I’m not above indulging in a hint of envy after a brutal experience.

"Uuggh."

Soo… Who do you think we should go to for pointers to work on mana sense?

Good question. Maybe Zaimeia? She’ll point us the right way at least.

- - -

After stretching, I took the time to awkwardly clean myself and my clothes in the chilling waters of the nearby river. The result is really not very impressive, and my clothes haven't dried yet, so i'm really cold. On the upside, hopefully, I won’t feel too itchy in the coming days. My beard is slowly growing and I hate it.

Yeah, I’m in dire need of a real cleanup... At least a change of clothes would be nice.

The kids are still spying on me, they were getting bolder but I scattered them when they got too close by the river. Drenching people with cold water never fails.

I have to admit I’m still not sure if they like me or if they are mocking me, but the distraction isn't entirely bad.

I’m sure I must be quite a sight myself for those bored kids. With human standards, I estimate that their ages are somewhere between 6 to 10 years. I'm guessing that teenagers are a busier, helping the adults with work.

I’m now in front of the chief’s house, trying to work up the nerve to knock and ask for stuff. It feels like such a weird thing to do. People don’t just walk to the mayor of their town when they need a magic teacher or new clothes! We have Internet for that…

The gilfeith in the street have been avoiding me with no comments. It’s not really friendly. Not quite hostile either, but I’m clearly far from being accepted. I think I was lucky this morning with Aetmon, the couple people I tried to approach earlier just shook their head and shooed me away.

Anyway, I have the choice between randomly wandering and hoping to find Zaimeia, or knocking.

Easy choice.

Yeah, the two large columns of smoke above the village have been intriguing me ever since I got here. Let’s start with the dark one.